Problem: Is ${304596}$ divisible by $9$ ?
A number is divisible by $9$ if the sum of its digits is divisible by $9$ . [ Why? First, we can break the number up by place value: $ \begin{eqnarray} {304596}= &&{3}\cdot100000+ \\&&{0}\cdot10000+ \\&&{4}\cdot1000+ \\&&{5}\cdot100+ \\&&{9}\cdot10+ \\&&{6}\cdot1 \end{eqnarray} $ Next, we can rewrite each of the place values as $1$ plus a bunch of $9$ s: $ \begin{eqnarray} {304596}= &&{3}(99999+1)+ \\&&{0}(9999+1)+ \\&&{4}(999+1)+ \\&&{5}(99+1)+ \\&&{9}(9+1)+ \\&&{6} \end{eqnarray} $ Now if we distribute and rearrange, we get this: $ \begin{eqnarray} {304596}= &&\gray{3\cdot99999}+ \\&&\gray{0\cdot9999}+ \\&&\gray{4\cdot999}+ \\&&\gray{5\cdot99}+ \\&&\gray{9\cdot9}+ \\&& {3}+{0}+{4}+{5}+{9}+{6} \end{eqnarray} $ Any number consisting only of $9$ s is a multiple of $9$ , so the first five terms must all be multiples of $9$ That means that to figure out whether the original number is divisible by $9 $ , all we need to do is add up the digits and see if the sum is divisible by $9$ . In other words, ${304596}$ is divisible by $9$ if ${ 3}+{0}+{4}+{5}+{9}+{6}$ is divisible by $9$ Add the digits of ${304596}$ $ {3}+{0}+{4}+{5}+{9}+{6} = {27} $ If ${27}$ is divisible by $9$ , then ${304596}$ must also be divisible by $9$ ${27}$ is divisible by $9$, therefore ${304596}$ must also be divisible by $9$.